Faux Silk Poinsettia

Happy Friday, everyone!! I wanted to share a card that I made yesterday for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge, WT291, which was to use tissue paper. I chose to use the Faux Silk technique, which involves stamping on tissue paper. A great tutorial for it is found HERE on SCS. I first used this technique back in the spring and really loved how it turned out. I was so glad for the nudge this challenge gave me to use it again!! (And here's a closeup showing the texture of the faux silk a little better.)
This is my fourth SNEAK PEEK of the six new clear stamp sets that will released by Mark's Finest Papers next week. This set is called, appropriately enough, Seasonal Poinsettias. I'm looking forward to doing some watercolor painting with this set next week!

The color combo is for the new Play Date Cafe challenge (PDCC50) to use melon and green. I thought these would be perfect for a "pink poinsettia" card! I stamped the poinsettia in Versamark on tissue paper and used chalks to color it in. I figured that most other coloring methods would bleed on the tissue, and I love the soft look the chalks gave this image--the perfect look for my faux silk!

And I broke out my new lime green baker's twine for this card. I am SO glad I got some--I'm just loving this new twine!! It's going to be great for all of my holiday projects.

Challenges used:

• The Play Date Cafe, PDCC50, use green, white, and melon
• Splitcoast sketch challenge SC297
• Delightful Challenges, use Christmas colors: red, green, and white

Thanks for stopping by today!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Seasonal Poinsettias
Paper: white tissue paper, Crate Paper Blue Hill Collection DP, The Paper Company CS
Ink: Versamark, Palette boudoir blush
Accessories: MS deco fan corner & border punches, CM corner rounder punch, sewing machine, Stampin' Pastels, Xyron, dimensionals, lime green baker's twine, adhesive pearls
Techniques: faux silk, Poppin' pastels, background stamping, machine stitching

Stampin' B's Fall Card Challenge

Happy Thursday and welcome to another challenge from the Stampin' B's DT. This week Faith is our hostess and she has challenged us to make a fall card. I definitely needed some more autumn cards, so this challenge was perfect--so timely!!

Over the weekend I made an autumn card (this one) that used some rather nontraditional colors, and I really like how it turned out. I decided to try something like that again, and this time went with black, teal, and gold. Very different, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! This leaf image from The Angel Company is one of the older ones in my stamp collection, but it remains my favorite leaf stamp! I love how detailed it is, and I think it is perfect for embossing. I stamped it with metallic gold ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

Other challenges that went into this card:

• Midnight Madness: Sketch Challenge #74
• Jazzy Paper Designs Inspirational Challenge #13, to be inspired by this jazz album cover: Street of Dreams by Grant Green. I was guest designer for this challenge last week (see this post), but I had so much fun with this inspiration, I wanted to try another!!
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: pick your favorite Papertake challenge from the past three years. I chose "Autumn Haze" from 2008.
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge 124, Sparkle and Shine. I used lots of sparkle with my glittery DP and lots of shine with my gold accents: gold embossing, gold ribbon slides, and gold brads.
• Tuesday Throwdown: Challenge #20, Chipboard. I don't have lots of chipboard, but I do have these tiny chipboard flowers (adorned with rhinestones) that I thought were perfect for this card!
  

Want to know a secret?? I have some great little ribbon slides that I thought would be perfect for the MMSC74 layout, but they are silver and all the other metallic accents on this card are gold. Rather than clash or, perish the thought, go buy something that would match, I tried a little alchemy. I pressed one of the silver slides into my ColorBox metallic gold pigment ink pad and covered it liberally with gold ink. Then, using tweezers, I immediately dropped it into a pile of clear embossing powder, and--presto!--after a minute under my heat tool, I had transmutated silver into gold!!!

I hope you've been inspired to play along with the Stampin' B's!! If you do make a card, post it on your blog or SCS gallery, and link it up to the Inlinkz tool on the Stampin' B's blog. We'd love to see what you create!! :)

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of bliss today!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Angel Company
Paper: SU basic black, The Paper Company cream, DCWV Indian Summer textured CS and glitter DP
Ink: ColorBox metallic gold pigment ink
Accessories: MS topiary corner punch, MS topiary border punch, CM circle cutting system, clear embossing powder, heat tool, dimensionals, ribbon slides, satin ribbon from Mark's Finest Papers, gold brads, K&Company chipboard stickers
Techniques: heat embossing

You Warm My Heart

Hey, can I just say that any day that includes watercoloring is a good day in my book? This card was a fun one to put together. I am really loving the results of heat embossing in black on watercolor paper. It gives me a nice, dark image on the textured watercolor paper which I am often not able to otherwise achieve with straight stamping on the bumpy grain. I just wish I could get the hang of ridding the image of all stray grains of EP. I still get embossed "freckles" even though I use an embossing buddy!! So please excuse the mess while I try to get on the learning curve. :(

With this card I am giving another SNEAK PEEK of a soon-to-be-released clear stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers. This set is called Snowman Country, and it has a cozy, homespun feel. Wait 'til you see the whole set next week!

Oh, and I'm also debuting my new baker's twine!! Have loved the look of this twine for months, and I finally ordered some. A blogging friend, Kristy of Kristy's Crafts, pointed me to her affordable source of baker's twine at the Annie42 Etsy shop, which offers baker's twine in eight colors and, with low shipping costs, has some of the best prices around.

Here are the challenges I played in making this 5" x 6.5 " card:

• Splitcoast sketch challenge SC301
• Tuesday Throwdown: Challenge #20, Chipboard. I dug into a package of Target Dollar Spot holiday chipboard letters that my DS gave me for Christmas last year.
  
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 25, Hooray for the Holidays--create a holiday project for any holiday. I've got Christmas covered with this one.
• Paper Sundaes: Something from Your Stash. Those three red/black swirly buttons came from my vintage button stash.
  
• Stamptacular Sunday: Challenge #79, Layer It On, to use at least 5 layers

Thanks for dropping in!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers: Snowman Country
Paper: SU basic black, The Paper Company, Canson watercolor paper, DMD DP (from WalMart)
Ink: Versamark, Rubber Stampede (scarlet, deep green, black--for watercoloring)
Accessories: CM corner rounder punch, SU scallop border punch, black EP, heat tool, foam tape, buttons from my stash, baker's twine, chipboard alphabet piece
Techniques: watercolor painting, embossing

Forever Thankful

Yesterday's color challenge CC291 on Splitcoast Stampers was absolutely yummy: rich razzleberry, so saffron, and tangerine tango. What terrific autumn colors! It was also the perfect combo for my first SNEAK PEEK of a beautiful new clear stamp set scheduled to be released by Mark's Finest Papers next week. This is Thankful for You, a versatile set that includes a wonderful mix of thankful sentiments and harvest images. (Isn't that wheat image beautifully detailed?) My inside sentiment reads "Happy Thanksgiving" in a lovely script.

Other challenges that went into the making of this card:

• Critter Sketch Challenge: this sketch
• Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger: to be inspired by this abstract folk art Painting by Catherine Horvath Buchanan. I was inspired by the farms and fields to use wheat on my card and by the pretty autumn trees to use leaves. Many of the colors coordinate nicely with the challenge colors I used, too :)
• Stamptacular Sunday: Challenge #79, Layer It On, to use at least 5 layers
• Paper Sundaes: Something from Your Stash (I've had that satin ribbon in my stash forever and just recently discovered how nicely it coordinates with rich razzleberry!)
• Stamps R Us: Challenge #6, an All Nature Theme
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 25, Hooray for the Holidays--create a holiday project for any holiday. I went with Thanksgiving for this one.
  
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge 124, Sparkle and Shine. My glittery DP certainly does sparkle!
  

What am I happy about today? I finally have a Bow-Easy!! Yay!! I have always been quite definitely bow-challenged and have thought for quite some time that I should get a Bow-Easy. I didn't want to pay a lot for postage and didn't need a lot of other supplies (which might normally qualify me for free shipping somewhere). So I finally poked around and found an eBay seller through whom I could get a Bow-Easy for $6 (USD), including shipping. (Here is the Bow-Easy listing.) Sounds like the right price to me! :) It arrived on Friday, and I spent some time playing with it over the weekend. This online photo tutorial was a huge help. I'm happy that I can finally tie somewhat decent-looking bows, like the one on today's card. Not perfect, but a huge improvement. At least I'm on the learning curve now!!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a super day!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Thankful for You
Paper: PTI kraft CS, SU so saffron CS, SU tangerine tango CS, DCWV textured CS, DCWV sparkle DP from Indian Summer Stack
Ink: SU so saffron, SU tangerine tango, Palette bordeaux
Accessories: CM 1.25" square punch, SU scallop square punch, SU scallop trim border punch, SU scallop trim corner punch, SU wide oval punch, SU scallop oval punch, MS maple leaf punch, satin ribbon, foam tape, hemp cord, Bow-Easy

Forest Sympathy

I've been itching to play the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge SC300 ever since it was issued last week, and I finally got the chance to do so last night!! Wow, 300 weekly sketches--that's quite a milestone. It was perfect for a CAS sympathy card I'd been picturing in my mind for a while.

This is a SNEAK PEEK of a new clear stamp set scheduled to be released by Mark's Finest Papers next week. This time I am using A Walk in the Woods (along with the birch tree trunks from an older set, Stinky Situation). A Walk in the Woods features a variety of gorgeous tree images (I used one in the background stamping on the saffron panels) and a variety of comforting sentiments, including this "with Sympathy" sentiment. My inside sentiment reads "Peace be with you."

I just adore the birch trunks image! And so versatile--it can be used as a background, or, because it is so detailed, as a focal point, as I did here. I stamped them in Versamark on watercolor paper, covered with black embossing powder, and heat set. Then I had a lovely time watercoloring, the coloring method that makes me happiest!!

I also incorporated these challenges:

• Embellish Magazine: Background Stamping Color Challenge
• Stamptacular Sunday: Challenge #79, Layer It On, to use at least 5 layers
• Stamps R Us: Challenge #6, an All Nature Theme

I never got a chance to tell you about our geocaching adventures on Saturday. We had a blast!! We found two caches hidden in a nearby conservation area that we'd never even heard of. It is tucked in a residential area about a mile and a half away. I was amazed by the forest we walked through--nicely groomed, well-marked, wide forest paths through really tall, widely spaced pines and hardwoods. It was so peaceful!! It seemed like we were miles from civilization, yet in reality we were only a stone's throw from folks' backyards. We found our geocaches without too much trouble; the kids loved checking out the trinkets stashed in each one, exchanging swag from their personal collections for cool finds in the geocache; and we all enjoyed an easy hike. A restorative afternoon!

Thanks for dropping by to check out my little slice of happy!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers: A Walk in the Woods & Stinky Situation
Paper: SU basic black, SU so saffron, The Paper Company grey, Canson watercolor paper
Ink: Versamark, SU so saffron, Marvy LePlume II black marker (sentiment), Rubber Stampede black (for watercoloring)
Accessories: black embossing powder, heat tool, watercolor brush, dimensionals
Techniques: watercolor painting

Halloween Kitties and Pumpkins and Bats--Oh, My!!

You just can't go wrong with orange and green and black for Halloween!! I threw this together for Repeat Impressions' What If? Wednesday sketch challenge, which ends today in just a few hours. Nothing like squeaking under the wire at the last minute!! In case you couldn't tell, I rotated the sketch for my card! ;)

This is also for:

• Paper Sundaes: Something from Your Stash (I've hoarded that pretty oval brad in my stash for a while now and figured NOW was the time to use it!)
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: Week 25, Hooray for the Holidays--create a holiday project for any holiday. Just stating the obvious: I went with Halloween! :)
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge 124, Sparkle and Shine. It may be hard to tell, but the stars on the jack-0-lantern DP are sparkly and I used a tube of studio g Sparkle Writer to add sparkly dots around the scallops of the middle oval.
• Papertake Weekly Challenge: pick your favorite Papertake challenge from the past three years. I chose "Shiny, Sparkly & Special" from May 2010. I used a brad with a shiny frame and lots of sparkly glitter. :)
  

My slice of bliss for today? I just found out last night that I won the "birthday gift" in last week's Happy Birthday ColourQ celebration for colourQ52! My project was drawn at random for the $25 gift certificate prize AND I was selected as one of the colourQueen Courtiers for the week. You'd better tie me down to my chair today--I might just float away! :) Thanks for stopping by to share in my happy!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Broom Ride (sentiment)
Paper: SU tangerine tango CS, SU kiwi kiss CS, SU basic black CS, Halloween DP from Target's Dollar Spot, My Mind's Eye Magnolia Stack DP
Ink: Marvy LePlume II black marker
Accessories: SU scallop oval punch, SU large oval punch, CM oval cutting system, EK Success spooky cat punch, white gel pen, studio g Sparkle Writer, foam tape, orange satin ribbon, black adhesive pearls, fancy brad from my stash

Spooky Owl

I made a quick card for Halloween today.
Last week, I got out my Halloween hand towels to use in the kitchen and was struck by how well this one would translate into a scene for a card. So I was inspired to make an owl card for Halloween!!

I also incorporated these challenges:

• Waltzingmouse Sketch: Challenge #17
• Crafty Creations Challenge: Owls
• Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Challenge 86, to create a project with a fall/harvest theme using green, brown, orange/russet, and cream
• 4 Crafty Chicks: Crazy Egg Challenge, to use a bird of some kind
• Speedy the Cat's Friends: Challenge 23, Buttons and Bows

I have a list of cards I want to make today, so I've got to keep moving!! I'll be back later--hopefully! :)

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers: Owl Be Here (owl), Broom Rides (sentiment), Tweet Blessings (branch)
Paper: SU pumpkin pie CS, SU kiwi kiss CS, The Paper Company cream CS
Ink: Palette burnt umber, Palette haystack, Marvy LePlume II brown marker
Accessories: SU 1.75" circle punch, scoring tool and paper cutter, scissors, sponge, dimensionals, button from my stash, brown burplap string, Bow-Easy
Techniques: scoring, sponging

A Blue Autumn

I made this card yesterday when I was feeling productive, creative, and having a wonderful day. I had all kinds of fun things to share with you about our super Saturday, but ran out of time before bedtime to blog about it. Sadly, I'm feeling super tired today and kinda cruddy, so this will be a just a short post.

Challenges:

• Off the Wall Craftiness: Challenge #27
• Limelight Papercrafts: Challenge 57 and Leaves
• A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge 123, Spots and Stripes
• Speedy the Cat's Friends: Challenge 23, Buttons and Bows

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers Autumn Fun
Paper: SU baja breeze, SU DP, The Paper Company cream CS
Ink: Palette burnt umber
Accessories: scoring tool, sewing machine, Prismacolor pencils, odorless mineral spirits, paper blending stumps, felt stickers from Target's Dollar Spot, buttons from my stash, dotted grosgrain ribbon, Bow-Easy
Techniques: Gamsol Magic, scoring, machine stitching

Midnight Madness Sketch and Another CONTEST!

Happy World Card Making Day, everyone!! I was so pleased to be able to squeeze in some card-making time for myself today. So without further ado, let's meet today's card!!
I have been dying to do some watercoloring for several weeks now, so I was so pleased to finally take some time to do what makes me happy!! The stamped leaf image is an old stamp from The Angel Company. I've never really used it much because I was so intimidated by coloring the wide open space inside the lines. But watercoloring is a game-changer!! So easy, and I love the look I ended up with. It's kind of a big image, so this is a big card--it measures 5"x7".

The text panel behind the image panel was cut from a vintage book I bought specifically to hack up for paper crafts and then sponged with pumpkin pie ink.

Challenges that I incorporated into this card:

• Midnight Madness: Sketch Challenge#73
• Simon Says: It's Autumn, use this photo for inspiration AND use beautiful autumn colors
• Color Throwdown: color combo #112
• Tuesday Taggers: All About Autumn
• Stamptacular Sunday: use as many colors as you’d like BUT only colors you’d see in the FALL
• City Crafter Challenge Blog: week 24, Flowers and Frills, include at least one flower and some lace or a doily

In other news, the September Gallery Comment Contest I was hosting over on Splitcoast Stampers ended just before midnight on Thursday. We had an unbelievable 634 entries--which translates into awarding 8 prizes!! I'm having fun assembling all of my prize packages and hope to have everything ready to mail out to my winners by Monday morning :) .

I decided to host the CONTEST again for October, so if you are interested in finding out more, please check out the October 2010 Gallery Comment Contest thread over on SCS. You can enter as many times as you like and comment on whatever cards you like!!! The contest closes at 11:59 p.m. on October 31. I'd love to have you join us!! Just let me know if you have any questions. :)

Well, that does it for today! Did you get in any card making or supply shopping for to celebrate World Card Making Day? Leave me a comment to tell me how you celebrated!! See you soon! :)

Card Recipe:
Stamps: The Angel Company
Paper: SU pumpkin pie, SU old olive, SU rose red, Canson watercolor paper, DCWV Indian Summer Stack DP, page from vintage book
Ink: Palette burnt umber, SU pumpkin pie, SU old olive, Rubber Stampede scarlet
Accessories: SU scallop trim corner punch, SU boho blossoms punch, MS maple leaf punch, watercolor brush, sponge, lace trim, olive brads, orange rhinestones
Techniques: watercolor painting, sponging

Jazz Cat of the Week

I have some exciting news!! I just found out a couple days ago that I was selected as "Jazz Cat of the Week" in the Jazzy Paper Designs Inspirational Challenge #13 for this card. As Jazz Cat, I have the honor of serving as Guest Designer for the new Jazzy Paper Designs challenge, which is to be inspired by this awesome jazz album cover: Street of Dreams by Grant Green.
As soon as I saw those street signs on the album cover, I knew I had the perfect DP for this project!! And the arrows on the street signs reminded me of my fun Along for the Ride stamp set by Unity. With this card, I'm also playing along with this week's colourQ Challenge #52, which is to use this sketch and one of the past year's color challenges. I chose colourQ #17.

If you'd like to take a crack at this fun jazz album-inspired challenge, then be sure to visit the Jazzy Paper Designs blog for more on the prize and for details on entering.

So, the past few days we in eastern Massachusetts have been plagued by the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole. We've had warm temperatures, high winds, high humidity, and lots of moisture--feeling very tropical, but not in a good way (especially with no sun). Yesterday morning, I was awakened by my dear hubby at 5:45 a.m. (I am normally up at this time for my daily date with our stationary cycle, but I hadn't been sleeping well or feeling well this week, so when my alarm went off at 5:30 I reset it for 30 minutes to catch up a bit more on my sleep.) He had tried to leave for work at his normal time (5:40) but found that the high winds overnight had toppled a dead tree across the end of our road, completely blocking it. The tree, about 14 inches in diameter, was too big for him to drive over and too heavy for him to move by himself, so he was stuck. Our street has only one outlet (yup, Bliss Road is a dead end!!), and the project he's on at work these days doesn't allow him to work from home. In order to beat the heavy Boston commuting traffic, his only option was to get help. That was me!! So I threw on some clothes while he gathered up some work gloves, a 2x4 for leverage, and our hand truck, and off we set into the pre-dawn blackness while violent winds swirled through tree tops above us. Luckily, it wasn't raining at the moment. While stumbling around looking for clothes, I hadn't registered his request that I bring a flashlight, so we worked in the faint light of a distant streetlamp and managed to raise up the tree trunk with our 2x4 lever just enough to wedge the handtruck underneath it. I maneuvered the handtruck under the middle of the trunk while DH hoisted one end, and together we managed to pivot the whole thing just off the edge of the road. Success!!

The winds blew and gusted hard most of the rest of the morning, with intermittent showers, until suddenly it stopped and and a steady rain started. And that was it!! The temperature started dropping and the tropical-ness of the system was over. At the end of the school day, my middle-schooler daughter and I put on our rain boots, grabbed our umbrellas, and walked in the thankfully straight-falling rain down to the elementary school to meet her brother after school. We had carried his rain boots along with us, and once he had changed out of his sneakers, the three of us enjoyed a leisurely walk home, wading through and stomping in every puddle we came across. And that's my little slice of bliss for today--the joy of sloshing through deep puddles while keeping your feet dry in bright rubber boots!!

Thanks for dropping by today!!

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Unity Along for the Ride
Paper: SU basic black CS, DCWV The Travel Stack DP, SU DP, The Paper Company CS
Ink: Palette noir black
Accessories: SU scallop border punch, CM oval cutting system, dimensionals, Prismacolor pencils, gunmetal eyelet brads